Pettersen is pleased with the Blackwolf Run greens. (Photo by Getty Images)In hindsight, it's clear Pettersen should skip breakfast more often. After making it to the first tee on time, she rattled off four birdies in her first seven holes and got to -5 for the tournament. That score that held up on the back nine and put her alone in the U.S. Open lead. "Sometimes [oversleeping] is a good thing," she conceded after the round. "You don't have time to think about stuff."
The 6th-ranked Pettersen, who won twice in 2011 and has eight LPGA titles to her name, including the 2007 LPGA Championship, hasn't won a tournament in 2012. "I lost the first round in the [Sybase] match play, and after that we had a little chat about what my game was like," she says. "I wasn't quite happy where it was, and we did a few tweaks, and it's been very good since. I felt like my long game was letting me down, and it's usually my bread and butter. I like to have the club react to what I do, and now it is. It's awfully nice to stand over the ball knowing it's going to go where you're hitting it."
As for the difficulty of the 6,954-yard Blackwolf Run layout, the Norwegian doesn't see what all the fuss is about. "I probably shouldn't say what I first thought after seeing this course. I was trying to find out what was so hard about it. Obviously they lengthened it 400 yards since 1998, but the rough is doable. The greens aren't as firm as they were back then, from what I've understood, and it's pretty straightforward. Pretty big greens. If you like putting, you're going to get a lot of good chances out here."
After a quick turnaround between her Thursday and Friday tee times, Pettersen is looking forward to putting her feet up and relaxing this afternoon. "First I'm going to watch some highlights from the [Wimbledon] tennis -- I was happy to see Federer go through to the finals. And I can't wait for a shower." There probably wasn't time for that this morning, either.
--Stina Sternberg
